The WTA Finals Singapore begins on October 21 and there’s still two spots up for grabs as the elite eight is decided this week in Moscow. Read on below as we profile the leading contenders who will be hoping to secure their ticket to the prestigious season-ending championships.

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Current standings:

1. Simona Halep, 6,921 points (Qualified)

Current ranking: No. 1

Win/loss in 2018: 46/10

Titles in 2018: Three (Shenzhen, Roland Garros, Montreal)

Remaining tournaments: Moscow

It’s been a career-best season for Halep in 2018, with the Romanian finally breaking through to capture that elusive first major title at the French Open, while she’s also picked up silverware in Shenzhen and Montreal to head into the back-end of the season as the clear and dominant World No. 1, leading No. 2 Caroline Wozniacki by almost 3,000 points and Angelique Kerber - who is No. 2 in the Porsche Race to Singapore - by nearly 2,000. Halep however hasn’t won a match since Cincinnati, losing in the first rounds of the U.S. Open, Wuhan and Beijing and is currently dealing with a back issue that might threaten her participation at the WTA Finals. Halep is set to return this week as a wildcard in Moscow in an attempt to test out her back and win some matches before Singapore.

2. Angelique Kerber, 5,375 points (Qualified)

Current ranking: No. 3

Win/loss in 2018: 44/16

Titles in 2018: Two (Sydney, Wimbledon)

Remaining tournaments: None

After enduring a nightmare 2017 season where she went from No. 1 to outside the top 20 and failed to win a title, Kerber has enjoyed an extraordinary resurgence in 2018, adding a third Grand Slam title to her collection by beating Serena Williams in the Wimbledon final and rising back into the world’s top three following a consistent all-round year in which she also secured the Sydney title and made the Australian Open semi-finals. However, Kerber is again struggling after winning a Grand Slam, losing early at both Wuhan and Beijing - the last of which resulted in losing the final set 0-6 against Zhang Shuai.

3. Caroline Wozniacki, 5,086 points (Qualified)

Current ranking: No. 2

Win/loss in 2018: 36/14

Titles in 2018: Three (Australian Open, Eastbourne, Beijing)

Remaining tournaments: None

Caroline Wozniacki began the season in outstanding fashion, finishing runner-up in Auckland before breaking her long-standing Grand Slam drought by winning the Australian Open, saving match points in the second round before toppling Simona Halep in a thrilling final. However, the Dane hasn’t been able to produce her best tennis since Melbourne - a title in Eastbourne notwithstanding - and Wozniacki has barely been a factor deep into the biggest tournaments of the season. Nevertheless, her Australian Open triumph has seen her remain at No. 2 for most of 2018 and she's wrapped up her ticket to Singapore in emphatic fashion after securing the Premier Mandatory China Open silverware.

4. Naomi Osaka, 4,565 points (Qualified)

Current ranking: No. 4

Win/loss in 2018: 41/16

Titles in 2018: Two (Indian Wells, U.S. Open)

Remaining tournaments: None

Currently the next in line to punch her ticket to the WTA Finals for the first time, Osaka has been the undisputed breakout star of 2018, winning her first two career titles in phenomenal fashion at the Premier Mandatory BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells and of course the U.S. Open, where she conquered Serena Williams in a controversial final showdown. Those two crowning achievements have contributed the bulk of her points this season and propelled her to the cusp of qualifying, and after making the Tokyo final almost immediately after New York, the Japanese star is showing no signs of slowing down as 2018 draws to a close. The 20-year-old secured her maiden WTA Finals spot on the back of reaching the China Open semi-finals.

5. Petra Kvitova, 4,255 points (Qualified)

Leading the tour in terms of titles won this season with five, Petra Kvitova has continued her remarkable comeback from a career and even life-threatening home invasion that she was the victim of towards the end of 2016, surging back into the world’s top five and re-establishing herself as one of the best players in the world. Although Kvitova has flourished on the WTA Tour, the Czech would have been disappointed with her performances at the majors this season, failing to make the second week of any. Nevertheless, Kvitova’s strong showings elsewhere and a whole host of other contenders falling in Beijing means the Czech has cemented her spot at the season-ending championships. - despite early exits herself so far during the Asian swing.

6. Sloane Stephens, 3,943 points (Qualified)

Current ranking: No. 8

Win/loss in 2018: 33/16

Titles in 2018: One (Miami)

Remaining tournaments: None scheduled

You’ve got to give Sloane Stephens a pass mark this season - she’s maintained a spot in the top 10, won her first WTA Premier Mandatory title in Miami and advanced to the French Open final for a very solid consolidation year after winning the U.S. Open in stunning fashion in 2017. Still, Stephens is prone to poor defeats and early exits at any given time, and considering how she failed to win a match in Asia last year and has continued in the same vein in Tokyo and Wuhan over the last fortnight, it will take a big effort from the American - and maybe some wildcards into more late-season events - to qualify for Singapore. Stephens claimed her first win in Asia since 2015 in a fiery clash over Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in Beijing, but she went down to Dominika Cibulkova in the Round of 16. Stephens has cemented her place at the WTA Finals for the first time and has taken a wildcard into Moscow this week in order to build up some form before the tournament.

7. Elina Svitolina, 3,850 points

Current ranking: No. 5

Win/loss in 2018: 37/14

Titles in 2018: Three (Brisbane, Dubai, Rome)

Remaining tournaments: None

Although Svitolina has cemented her status as a top 10 player over the course of 2018 and captured three titles, including defending her Dubai and Rome crowns, the Ukrainian hasn’t played as well as she did in 2017, when she qualified for the WTA Finals for the first time and hit a career-high ranking of No. 3. Svitolina still hasn’t been able to master Grand Slams, with her best result a quarter-final at the Australian Open - can she put together a big finish to 2018, qualify for Singapore and make an impact at the finals? Things didn't go according to plan in Beijing as she suffered a first round exit to Aleksandra Krunic, slipping one place to seventh in the Race as a result. A quarter-final exit in Hong Kong didn't help, and as she's not playing this week, her WTA Finals destiny is out of her hands. Svitolina will qualify unless both Bertens and Pliskova make the semi-finals in Moscow.

8. Karolina Pliskova, 3,840 points

Current ranking: No. 6

Win/loss in 2018: 44/18

Titles in 2018: Two (Stuttgart, Tokyo)

Remaining tournaments: Moscow

It’s been a strange, up-and-down season for Pliskova. The Czech didn’t beat a top 25 player throughout the first quarter of 2018, but she all of a sudden recaptured her best tennis to win the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart and go on a nice run to the Mutua Madrid Open semi-finals with wins over Victoria Azarenka, Sloane Stephens and Simona Halep. However, Pliskova faded once again, losing before the quarter-finals at Wimbledon and Roland Garros - but she’s finding some form again as she makes a late surge to lock down a Singapore spot, reaching the U.S. Open quarter-finals before winning her second title of the year in Tokyo, beating Naomi Osaka in the final. Pliskova went down to Wang Qiang in the China Open R16 and finished runner-up in Tianjin to hold onto eighth spot in the Race to Singapore. Pliskova will seal her place at the WTA Finals if Kiki Bertens loses before the Moscow semi-finals or she reaches the semi-finals herself.

9. Kiki Bertens, 3,710 points

Current ranking: No. 10

Win/loss in 2018: 42/19

Titles in 2018: Three (Charleston, Cincinnati, Seoul)

Remaining tournaments: Moscow

Not really thought of as a WTA Finals contender throughout the first half of the season despite her usual high standard of play on clay that yielded the Charleston title and a runner-up showing at the Premier Mandatory Mutua Madrid Open, Bertens has sprinted into a current place of ninth in the Race to Singapore after some excellent performance on grass and hardcourt, making the Wimbledon quarter-finals before picking up her first hardcourt titles in Cincinnati and Seoul. Set to play every week of the year until the WTA Finals, Bertens has a qualifying ticket within her grasp if she can continue to operate at a high level. The Dutchwoman made the Round of 16 in Beijing but lost in the second round of Linz. Bertens needs to make the semi-finals of Moscow this week to qualify, with those points enough to take her ahead of Svitolina.

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The WTA Finals Singapore begins on October 21 and there’s still two spots up for grabs as the elite eight is decided this week in Moscow. Read on below as we profile the leading contenders who will be hoping to secure their ticket to the prestigious season-ending championships.